Asura
by Architeuthis
Summary: Scorponok finds a friend. This proves to be bad news for the Maximals.


Author's Note: This story is set in the first season with one difference; Quickstrike and Silverbolt landed earlier than they did in the T.V. continuity.  
  
Asura  
  
by Architeuthis (aegerton@erols.com)  
  
Scorponok groaned inwardly when he saw the cracked and blackened stasis pod. Megatron had sent him and Terrorsaur after one pod, and Inferno and Tarantulas after the other pod. Scorponok had hoped for a relatively easy mission; this pod was within Predacon territory, while the other pod was near Maximal ground. The pod's condition shattered that hope; it was going to take all of his engineering skill to bring the protoform on-line.  
  
"Get up there and scout for Maximals; this is going to take awhile and I don't want distractions.", he ordered Terrorsaur. The latter squawked and took wing.  
  
"Easy part first.", Scorponok muttered, and replaced the Maximal chip with a Predacon chip. He then examined the DNA scanner and replication mechanisms, and saw that the scanner had already selected a beast mode, but that the replication process had failed to start. He knew that since the scanner had picked a beast mode based on Maximal programming, the new Predacon would have a beast mode that was more typical of a Maximal. He also knew that there was nothing he could do about that; besides, getting the replicator working again was more important. He worked steadily, using every technique he knew to coax the replicator into working. Finally, he heard those blessed words: "Scanning and replication complete."  
  
The pod opened with a hiss and a black sabretooth tiger roughly the size of a lion leapt out. It had blazing yellow eyes and eight-inch long canines.  
  
"You IDIOT!", Terrorsaur screeched, "You were supposed to reprogram that as a Predacon!"  
  
"Lay offa him, I am a Predacon. Want proof, Needlenose? Asura, Terrorize!" In robot mode, Asura was around Scorponok's height. She was black with silver and red trim and had yellow optics. She had a humanoid form like most Cybertronians, but she also had a feline head and tail.  
  
"Not bad.", said Scorponok, "Looks like you came out fine, despite the rough landing. I'm Scorponok, second-in-command of the Predacon base."  
  
"Nice to meet you. 'Rough landing?'", Asura said, taking her first good look at the stasis pod. "You got me out of that? You an engineer, too?"  
  
"Yes and yes."  
  
"Busy guy."  
  
"I'm about to get busier. We have to bring that pod back to the base with us."  
  
"What for?! Look at it, it's scrap!"  
  
"Standing orders from Megatron: we find a stasis pod, we bring the protoform inside online and bring the pod back for salvage. Even a pod as slagged as yours might have wires or circuits we can use back at base."  
  
"Sounds like my pod is now your headache. Please tell me the base is not on the other side of this planet--uuhh, just which planet is this, anyway?"  
  
"We don't know; our ship crashed here several months ago. As for the base, it's quite close."  
  
Terrorsaur wheeled above them. He had not spotted any Maximals and he had been watching Scorponok and Asura with growing disgust.  
  
"She likes the scorpion. Ugh."  
  
*********************  
  
Rhinox, Rattrap, and Airazor had also found a stasis pod. This one appeared to be in reasonably good condition, and Rhinox soon had it up and running. When the pod opened, a large raven flew out.  
  
"Tengu, Maximize!" Tengu proved to be a male roughly Cheetor's size who resembled Airazor in overall form. He was black with gold trim and had purple-black optics.  
  
"Hi! Uhh....you guys are also Maximals, right?"  
  
"Yes, we're Maximals. I'm Rhinox, this is Rattrap, and the lady is Airazor."  
  
"Glad to meet you! Where are we anyway, this doesn't look like Cyb-- "  
  
"Buurrrnnn, Maximals!"  
  
Inferno flew at the group of Maximals, firing his flame-thrower.  
  
"Inferno, stop! The pod's lost to us and they've already brought the protoform online!"  
  
Tarantulas knew a lost cause when he saw one. Right now he was looking at several lost causes: the protoform had already emerged as a Maximal, and with four alert Maximals in the area, his chances of successfully stealing the stasis pod ranged from slim to nonexistent. Getting Inferno to listen to anything remotely resembling reason was also a lost cause. Tarantulas was not one to waste time or energy on lost causes; he shifted to beast mode and scuttled off, leaving Inferno to fend for himself.  
  
"Hey, what's the deal!? Last I checked, we had a peace treaty with the Predacons!"  
  
"The Predacons here are outlaws, followers of Megatron.", Rhinox told Tengu.  
  
"In other words, kid, shut up and shoot, before that bozo torches us!"  
  
Laser cannons slid out from subspace and onto Tengu's shoulders. Tengu fired, narrowly missing Inferno, but drove the Predacon into the path of Rhinox's Chain Guns of Death. Several of the projectiles struck Inferno. Rattrap then fired his laser pistol. Inferno dodged that, but was struck by Airazor's bolts. The battle continued for several minutes in this fashion with the four Maximals backing each other up and keeping Inferno pinned between them. Gradually, the slow-witted Predacon began to realize several things, more or less simultaneously: 1) he was outnumbered, 2) Tarantulas, his supposed partner, had disappeared--again, 3) that new Maximal had fairly impressive laser cannons, 4) Rhinox's chain guns more than lived up to their reputation, and 5) he was getting slagged. Nonetheless, Inferno continued to fight, until he had a sixth realization: The Queen needed to know about this new Maximal. This was followed by a seventh realization: Tarantulas was not likely to tell The Queen about the new Maximal, which meant it was Inferno's job to inform the Royalty--and assume all responsibility, and accept all punishment for the failed mission.  
  
Inferno also realized he could not tell The Queen anything if the Maximals slagged him, which meant he had to do something he was not used to doing: flee a battle. He stopped trying to fight back, and simply fled, flying toward the Predacon base as fast as he could.  
  
*************************  
  
"Oooohhhhh, Waspinator like new cat-bot!", cried the insectoid, as he enthusiastically stroked Asura's thick black fur. The sabretooth purred and rubbed against Waspinator's legs like an oversized house cat.  
  
"Thanks, nice to meet you, too, Waspi--LEGGO MY TAIL, STUPID!"  
  
Waspinator had begun childishly pulling Asura's short tail. Quickstrike shoved him away.  
  
"Now see here, Bug-eyes. T'ain't no way to treat a lady! You got to 'scuse him, ma'am, he don't know no better. Quickstrike at your service, ma'am."  
  
"Good to meet you. I'm Asura, and you don't have to call me 'ma'am'." Asura couldn't help staring at Quickstrike, who looked deformed and freakish to her. She later learned that his stasis pod had landed near a large Energon deposit. The Energon had caused his DNA scanner to malfunction, giving him a beast mode that combined the traits of a cobra and a scorpion. Such aberrations were called "Fuzors", because of their fused beast modes.  
  
"'Asura'. Purty name. This here is mah sugar-bot!" Quickstrike dragged BlackArachnia over from her monitor.  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you, Robo-rube, don't call me that!"  
  
"So, what's your real name?"  
  
"It's BlackArachnia, Kitty-cat."  
  
"I'm Asura, not 'Kitty-cat'."  
  
Inferno, who had not yet visited the CR chamber, limped into the room and announced, "The Queen will see you now."  
  
" 'The Queen?'", Asura said to Scorponok in confusion, "Isn't Megatron male? And isn't queen an old word for a female leader?"  
  
"Yes and yes. I'll explain later." Scorponok had no desire to antagonize Inferno by discussing his faulty programming in front of him. He also had no illusions as to how long he'd last in a fight with the larger, stronger, and much more aggressive insectoid: about five nanoclicks--and that was assuming Inferno was having an off day.  
  
"What are you doing?", Scorponok asked Asura. The cat had begun licking herself.  
  
"Grooming. Want to look good for Megatron."  
  
"Urrm, I guess I'd better show you the hygiene facilities sometime.", said Scorponok, his heart sinking. It looked like Asura had not come out of the stasis pod all right, after all. She apparently had emerged with abnormally strong beast instincts. He hoped she wouldn't be as crazy as Inferno, and he hoped Megatron wouldn't punish him for not detecting or fixing the problem.  
  
Megatron was in his command chair when Scorponok and Asura arrived. He had already seen the stasis pod that they'd brought in, so he was not overly shocked to see that his newest Predacon looked more like a Maximal, which made her ugly by Predacon standards. The black fur and wicked-looking canines were redeeming features, however.  
  
"Welcome to the Predacons, Miss Asura. I am Megatron. Transform, please."  
  
"Asura, Terrorize!"  
  
"Good. What kind of weapons do you have?"  
  
"Got these." Asura held up her hands and sharp, retractile claws slid out of their sheathes. " Got 'em on my feet, too."  
  
"What else?"  
  
"Got a stealth mode." Asura demonstrated this capability, stalking around the bridge noiselessly. "I also got lock picks." A compartment built within her thigh slid open. Asura reached in and pulled out some of the lock picks, which looked like black, high-tech bobby pins.  
  
"Very nice. But do you have any long-range weapons?"  
  
"Optic lasers. Don't think you want me to fire 'em in here, though." The cat began licking herself again, oblivious to Megatron and Scorponok's stares.  
  
"No, I'd rather that you didn't fire them in here. I'll take your word for it that you have them. I think you'll make a useful and interesting addition to our ranks. Scorponok, show her around the base."  
  
"Yes, Megatron."  
  
After they had left, Megatron pondered the new arrival. Her behavior suggested strongly that she had therianthropy. This disorder was caused by flawed programming and had two main forms. In the severe form, the Transformer was a psychotic who suffered from the delusion that he or she was an animal. Inferno had this form of therianthropy: he believed he was an ant. Consequently, he saw everything in ant terms: Megatron was The Queen, the base was the Colony, the other Predacons were either soldiers or workers, etc. In the more moderate form of therianthropy, the subject was not delusional, since they knew that they were not really an animal. Nonetheless, they had strong, at times overwhelming, beast instincts. The Maximal Tigatron appeared to have this form of the disorder: he spent most of his time in beast mode (a common symptom), and he showed a tiger's preference for solitude and wilderness. He was also rumored to have amnesia, which was a common symptom in both forms of therianthropy. There were also Transformers who were mostly normal, but showed therianthropic behavior in one or two areas. Tarantulas, with his disgusting eating habits, fell into this category, although calling Tarantulas "normal" was really stretching things.  
  
A therianthropic Transformer could be useful, as Inferno had proved many times over. It could also be a menace. Megatron had always been glad that Scorponok had never shown any signs of the disorder; scorpions ate other arthropods, especially spiders, and fought one another to the death. A therianthropic Scorponok would therefore be a danger to many of the other Predacons. The same was true of Quickstrike. Thus, a therianthrope's usefulness depended on their beast mode and on the nature of their bestial impulses.  
  
"Computer, open zoology files."  
  
"Complying."  
  
"Find file on 'sabretooth cat'."  
  
"Please specify genus. There were several different genera of sabretooth cats."  
  
"List genera and include visual representations."  
  
"Complying." Megatron carefully studied the pictures of the different sabretooth cats and found one that looked like Asura in her beast mode.  
  
"Find file on Smilodon."  
  
"Complying." The file then began with a history of Smilodon evolution. Megatron did not really care about this.  
  
"Computer, find data on Smilodon social behavior." This part of the file would tell him if Asura's beast instincts would be a problem or not. The file included information that he did not care about, such as Smilodon reproduction. The part he found most interesting--and reassuring--was the description of Smilodon hunting tactics. Unlike most cats, these animals were pack hunters that lived in a pride like lions. That was the kind of information he'd been hoping for. Inferno's ant instincts made him useful because ants were both social and aggressive. Asura's beast instincts could work in a similar way; she, too, would be an aggressive predator with a strong loyalty to the group. If Megatron was right, the cat would view the Predacons as her pride and Megatron as the alpha or dominant male. Perhaps she would see Scorponok as her mate; since Scorponok was completely loyal to Megatron, that scenario would also work in Megatron's favor.  
  
"Oh, yesss!"  
  
*************************  
  
The Predacons were attacking the Maximal base. Asura had closed with one of the defenders, a Maximal youth who had a feline beast mode, probably a leopard or cheetah, to judge by his looks. He had a laser pistol that he fired wildly at her, and he was amazingly quick, which made him hard to hit. Asura's optic lasers gave her the advantage of superior aim; all she had to do was look directly and steadily at someone in order to aim her lasers. Unlike more conventional side arms such as laser pistols, the ability to use optic lasers well did not depend on good eye-hand coordination, but only on good eyesight.  
  
Asura eventually downed the youngster with a well-placed shot to his chest. She dashed over to where he had fallen and ripped out his throat with her sharp canines. The smell and taste of his mech fluid was intoxicating and she felt a powerful urge to shift to beast mode and begin eating her kill then and there. The sounds of battle reminded her that her pride-mates, the Predacons, were still fighting the Maximals. They needed her help. Her meal would have to wait until the fight was over. Squelching her predator's instincts, she scanned the battlefield for a likely target. She thought she might be able to get the drop on the rhino, who was trying to blast Inferno out of the sky with his chain guns....  
  
"Predacons, retreat!"  
  
Asura cursed; she'd hoped that her fellows had had the same kind of success in combat that she'd just had. She now saw that Waspinator and Quickstrike were down, and that Inferno, the Predacons' best fighter, was visibly damaged. She shifted to beast mode in order to flee--and saw that Scorponok had also been downed. He was in beast mode and off- line. The Maximals would surely take him prisoner if she did not get him to safety. His beast mode was somewhat smaller than his robot mode; carrying him should be fairly easy. Asura shifted back into robot mode, picked up Scorponok, and began carrying him back toward the Predacon base.  
  
"Going somewhere, Predacon?"  
  
"Yeah--back to my base, freak!"  
  
The winged Maximal who'd landed in front of her was quite obviously the Maximals' pet Fuzor. He had feathers and a canine head. Putting Scorponok down, she began firing at the Maximal with her eye lasers. To her astonishment, the Maximal did not try to fight back, but merely dodged her attacks. She continued to stalk him, moving away from Scorponok in the process.  
  
"Hey, Fang-face, wanna see me shell a lobster?!"  
  
Asura spun around and saw a young avian Maximal standing over Scorponok with a light saber just touching the Predacon's back.  
  
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!", she roared and began firing her optic lasers at him.  
  
"Hey, Rover, you were supposed to deck her!", the avian yelled as he dodged her eye lasers.  
  
"I cannot do that to a female, not even a Predacon female."  
  
"She's the enemy, you moron!"  
  
Asura bit back a smirk as the two Maximals began to argue. With any luck, their dispute would turn physical, as Predacon arguments often did. Even if it didn't, she still had an opportunity...  
  
"Stealth mode.", she whispered, and sidled over to where Scorponok lay. She picked him up and began carrying him away from the squabbling Maximals.  
  
"Uh-huh, right, get real, Fangs. Now put lobster-boy down before I shoot one of you. Unlike Silverdolt, I don't mind fighting females, especially not Pred females."  
  
The avian Maximal had shoulder-mounted laser cannons pointed directly at them, and he was so close that Asura knew it was extremely unlikely that he'd miss them if he fired those cannons. Asura also knew that being hit by a laser cannon at such close range could kill either her or Scorponok. She sighed.  
  
"Slag. You win. I surrender." She put Scorponok down and placed her clawed hands on her head.  
  
"I got the cat, Rover. Why don't you take the lobster?"  
  
"He's a scorpion, stupid!", snarled Asura.  
  
"Scorpion, lobster, what's the difference?"  
  
"Actually, there is a considerable difference.", said Silverbolt, who had picked up Scorponok. "Both are arthropods, but a lobster is a crustacean, while a scorpion is an arachnid. Lobsters are marine, while scorpions are terrestrial. Also, lobsters are not venomous, while scorpions are."  
  
"O.K., O.K. You and the Pred win. He's a scorpion. So I failed invertebrate zoology. Shoot me."  
  
*************************  
  
Scorponok came to and looked around, quickly realizing that he was not at the Predacon base. He was in beast mode and lying on a cot in what had to be the Axalon's brig. He wasn't alone either, for Asura lay sleeping on the floor in beast mode. Scorponok gazed at her, amused. Asura's sleeping habits had quickly become a standing joke amongst the Predacons. Like any cat, she slept a lot. She also showed a cat's facility for sleeping any time, anywhere, and, most amusing of all, in any position, no matter how peculiar, contorted, or even painful it looked. Nonetheless, Scorponok thought that even Asura would have drawn the line at sleeping on the floor of a Maximal brig. Or was she asleep? Maybe she'd been knocked out like he had. Abruptly worried, Scorponok poked at the sabretooth tiger with one of his heavy pincers. Asura cocked open a single yellow eye.  
  
"Hey, do you mind?", she grumbled, obviously at least half asleep. "Quit poking me, willya--Scorponok! You're O.K.!" She now sounded more fully awake and opened both eyes.  
  
"Yeah, I'm O.K. How long have we been here?"  
  
"Dunno. Long enough to put the Maximal guard to sleep, I hope." The sabretooth grinned up at him. "Gotta be boring watching prisoners sleep, don'tcha think?"  
  
"I wasn't asleep, I was off--oh!". Scorponok realized that whether they had been asleep or unconscious would make little difference to the Maximal on monitor duty. Either way, they'd been boringly inactive. With any luck, their inactivity would have lulled the guard into complacency, if not a stupor.  
  
"Slow on the uptake, ain'tcha?". The cat purred and rubbed her head against him.  
  
"Sometimes.", he admitted. "Let's see if I can't make us a quick exit.".  
  
Both Predacons shifted into robot mode. Scorponok aimed his pincer at the back wall of the cell and concentrated. Nothing happened.  
  
"Maximals took my missiles!".  
  
He examined his pincer and saw that the problem was actually worse than that: there was a blocking device attached to his "wrist". Not only had the Maximals disarmed him, they had also blocked his access to subspace, so he could not retrieve any of the weapons he'd stored there. A similar blocking device was attached to his other "wrist", preventing him from accessing any cyber- bees. So calling for help wasn't an option either. He examined Asura and saw that she had a damper on her forehead, which shut off her optic lasers.  
  
"You still got your toxic sting, don'tcha? You never use it, Maximals might not know you got it."  
  
"Yeah, it's there, but we need more than that to get out of here. Maximals aren't just gonna let us walk out, you know."  
  
"Can we just pull these gizmos off?"  
  
"No. They all got defense mechanisms. Try yanking your damper off and you get knocked into stasis lock. Same deal with my blockers. If we can shut off the defense mechanisms, then we can take them off and get our weapons. Not sure how we do that, though."  
  
"That a keyhole?"  
  
Scorponok nodded. "Time to see how good that Fuzor is at searching people." Asura touched her thigh and a compartment slid open. She reached in and drew her lockpicks out with a flourish. "Lucky us; he's lousy! Which one do I disable first?"  
  
"Do my missiles, then your lasers, then the cyber-bee."  
  
Asura began working on the blocker. Scorponok knew he had to stay still and quiet in order to not interfere with her concentration. He also knew he had a nervous tic: he tended to clack his claws when upset or nervous. It was embarrassing, for he was the only one of Megatron's followers with a tic. Most of the other Predacons found it amusing, but Megatron and Inferno found it annoying.  
  
Scorponok squelched these thoughts since such self-conscious thinking triggered his tic or made it worse. He needed to think about something else- -like their escape. First off, did they use his missiles or her lasers? His missiles were noisy; they'd attract attention. Also, brigs were usually amidships, not conveniently near the hull. So, they would need to get out of their cell, and find the quickest way out of the ship. There were two of them--and how many Maximals? The original four, plus the traitor Dinobot, plus the three, no, four, who'd come out of stasis pods. Nine Maximals. The tiger and the falcon were remote scouts, so they were probably not on board the Axalon. That still left seven Maximals. Seven- to-two odds were not particularly good. Better use her eye lasers, then.  
  
Click-click-click. Scorponok started in spite of himself. *Get a grip, stupid., he scolded himself. You know how these things work. It's supposed to make that noise after being disabled.* He removed the blocker.  
  
"This lock pick the right size for the damper?"  
  
"Looks like it."  
  
Scorponok guided Asura's hand to the damper. She inserted the lockpick into the hole and began poking and prodding, searching for wires or circuitry she could loosen or damage. It took her longer to disable the damper than it had to disable the blocker, simply because she couldn't see what she was doing. Scorponok forced himself to not think about that; he concentrated on their escape. More specifically, he thought about where Asura should fire her optic lasers: at a wall, at the force field at the mouth of the cell, or at the force field emitters at the top and bottom of the doorway. The last seemed like the best option.  
  
A series of clicks announced Asura's success in disabling the damper's defense mechanism. With a sigh of relief, she removed the damper. Then she began work on Scorponok's other blocker. Within minutes, she had it off.  
  
"Good work. See those emitters? Fire your lasers at them. I'm hoping that will knock out the force field. If not, try a wall."  
  
"Gotcha." Asura began firing her optic lasers at the emitters. As Scorponok had anticipated, destroying the emitters shut off the force field. The two Predacons then began looking for a quick way off the Axalon.  
  
************************  
  
Rattrap was bored out of his mind. Monitor duty was one of the worst assignments a bot could draw. He knew that he was supposed to be watching the two Predacons in the brig, but Claws-for-Brains and Fang-face weren't doing anything more menacing or interesting than catching up on badly needed beauty sleep. After twenty or so cycles of watching the Pred-heads snooze, he'd decided on just a few hands of virtual poker, to while away the megacycles. At first he'd look in every few cycles to make sure the Preds were still there, but seeing that they didn't so much as twitch, he looked at the monitor less and less often.  
  
Dinobot stalked in.  
  
"This is your idea of guard duty, Vermin?!"  
  
"Ehh, they're not going anywhere. I mean, Claws-for-Brains and his new girlfriend haven't been exactly active."  
  
"Oooohhh?" Dinobot gestured toward the monitor, which showed an empty brig with damaged field emitters. "Have the Predacons now acquired personal cloaking devices, Rodent?"  
  
"What the slag are you talking about, Chopper-face?" Rattrap looked at the monitor and saw the now-empty brig. "Oh, for booting up cold, where'd those two yahoos go?!"  
  
"You're asking me? You're the one who was on monitor duty, Vermin!"  
  
"What's going on here?", demanded Optimus Primal, who had overheard them.  
  
"This worthless mouse was playing virtual poker and let the Predacons escape!"  
  
"You were playing cards while on monitor duty?!"  
  
"Well, Claws-for-Brains and his lady friend were snoozing, so yeah, I did. I only played a few hands, they couldn't have gotten far."  
  
"That doesn't matter! What matters is that there are now two Predacons loose within our base! I want you and Dinobot to stop arguing and start looking for them. And when this is over, you and I are going to have a long talk about dereliction of duty. I'm going to ask Rhinox about a way to secure them once they're recaptured; they've obviously sabotaged the brig's field emitters."  
  
************************  
  
Asura and Scorponok moved quickly down a corridor searching for an exit. They saw a locked door of a type that Scorponok recognized from stolen Maximal floor plans.  
  
"Hey! I think this is a weapons hold!"  
  
Asura quickly picked the lock open, and saw that Scorponok was right.  
  
"Say, aren't those demolition charges up there?", asked Scorponok.  
  
"Sure are!"  
  
"Can you set 'em off?"  
  
"Sure can! Wouldn't be much of a saboteur if I couldn't, now would I? You wanna set 'em off, give the Maximals something to think about besides chasing us?"  
  
"That's right."  
  
"I take back what I said about you being slow."  
  
"Thanks! I'll watch for Maximals, you set those charges."  
  
Asura stepped into the weapons hold and began setting several charges. She set the timers to allow them enough time to get off the Axalon (she hoped). She also set them for maximum power to cause as much damage as possible.  
  
Scorponok waited anxiously in the hallway. He knew it wasn't really taking Asura that long to set the charges, but it seemed to be taking her megacycles.  
  
"Stay where you are, villain."  
  
Scorponok turned and found himself facing the Maximal Fuzor, Silverbolt. He menacingly swung his tail over one shoulder.  
  
"EAT THIS!"  
  
Scorponok fired a toxic sting at the Maximal, who discovered he could not fly out of harm's way in the corridor. The green acid struck the Maximal on the face and chest, causing him to collapse to the floor, howling in agony. If the Maximals hadn't known about their escape before, Scorponok decided, they sure knew now.  
  
"Asura! You finished in there?! We gotta leave, now!"  
  
"I'm done. I set the timers for fifteen cycles. There's an exit down that way."  
  
"Let's go!"  
  
The two Predacons sped down the hallway, reaching the exit without further incident. They continued running when outside, knowing that those charges would soon go off. They had reached the edge of a forest when they heard a loud explosion.  
  
"Yes!" Gleefully, they exchanged a high five.  
  
"Owww. Your pincer--." Asura painfully shook her hand.  
  
"Sorry. We'll go through this forest. It ends in Predacon territory and it'll give us cover. Silverbolt's scrap, but Optimus Primal and the birds can fly a lot faster than we can run. Dinobot and the cheetah are faster'n we are, too." Scorponok knew that neither scorpions nor sabretooth tigers were built for speed.  
  
"Fine. The cheetah's not a problem, though. I slagged him during the battle. We're still outnumbered, though."  
  
The two Predacons shifted to beast mode and entered the forest.  
  
**************************  
  
Tengu soared. Optimus Primal had sent him to look for the two escaped Predacons and he had followed their energy signatures to the forest. The Predacons had had a good head start, since the Maximals had had to put out the fire caused by the explosion and salvage what was left of the hapless Silverbolt. The pieces of Silverbolt had then been placed in the C.R. chamber next to Cheetor's. Only after that had Optimus Primal sent Tengu to look for the Predacons.  
  
The dense vegetation had made tracking the Predacons difficult. At first, Tengu had found it difficult to even find their energy trail. Gradually, their trail became easier to read, and he thought he might be getting closer to them. Looking down, he saw a black sabretooth tiger and a large grey scorpion with a blood red stinger. The sabretooth could have been a normal cat, since sabretooth tigers did live in the area, although they were quite rare. But even Tengu knew that normal scorpions were never six feet long.  
  
"Tengu to base. I found 'em. Repeat, I found 'em."  
  
"Good work, Tengu. Continue following them, but do not engage. Repeat, do not engage. You're in Predacon territory now. Airazor and I will be there shortly. Optimus out."  
  
Tengu looked down at the two Predacons, who had not noticed him yet. He thought he could surely take at least one of them; he would have the advantages of flight and surprise.  
  
"Tengu, Maximize!"  
  
Upon transforming, Tengu swooped down, firing his laser cannons at the two Predacons. He missed them both completely; the two Predacons dodged, and took shelter behind large trees. They then transformed into robot mode and began firing back.  
  
Tengu now saw that he had a problem: not only had he failed to take one of the Preds down during his surprise attack, but the Predacons were now separated and sheltering behind trees. He could only take them one at a time. The scorpion was the nearest, so Tengu decided to tackle him first. Hovering, he began to take aim, only to learn that a stationary target was quite easy to hit, as he was struck by both optic lasers and a sizable missile. He fell, landed hard, and went into stasis lock.  
  
"Three down.", said Asura.  
  
"Yeah, but look who's coming!"  
  
Optimus Primal and Airazor began firing at the two Predacons, who returned fire. Their flight capabilities soon gave the Maximals a definite edge. The Predacons found hitting them extremely difficult, since, unlike the inexperienced Tengu, these two battle-savvy fliers knew better than to hover during a battle. Instead, they swooped and darted through the air, seeming to turn on a dime. Optimus Primal was the faster flier, but Airazor was more maneuverable. Their flight patterns seemed random to the Predacons, but they were, in fact, deliberate. They were designed to frustrate and confuse ground-bound enemies.  
  
Scorponok especially was having difficulties. He was at his best and most effective when fighting another ground-bound Transformer in a relatively confined space. He was not particularly effective against fliers--and he knew it. He'd try to aim his missiles at one of the Maximals--and they'd be elsewhere. Nor could he predict where either one would be. As a result, he fired relatively few missiles.  
  
Asura was having no better luck, since both Optimus Primal and Airazor knew all the tricks for dodging optic lasers. Asura was also baffled by the Maximals' actions, for Primal and Airazor kept shooting at nearby trees and large rocks as well as at the two Predacons. The more experienced Scorponok realized that the Maximals' strategy was to cut them off from any more possible shelters, and to ultimately trap them in one area in order to recapture them. To Scorponok's growing distress, the strategy was working, for he and Asura had less and less room to maneuver, and were being forced toward each other. *Megatron is gonna love this*, he thought,*We're gonna be captured on our own ground!* Desperately, he fired a missile at Airazor, who dodged it easily--and was then caught in a burst of flame.  
  
"Buuurrrnnn, Maximal!"  
  
"Waspinator sees friends!"  
  
With the fliers' arrival, the fight quickly turned against Optimus Primal and the damaged Airazor. Realizing this, the two Maximals scooped up the off-line Tengu and fled. The two Predacon fliers landed.  
  
"Are you damaged?", asked Inferno.  
  
"Only minimally.", said Scorponok. "Good thing you were in the area; they almost had us!"  
  
"The Royalty was concerned when you did not return with us from the last battle, so she commanded us to search for you. That was good shooting, by the way: you drove that bird right into my flame thrower."  
  
"Urmm, thanks. I didn't plan that, I didn't even know you were there."  
  
"That does not matter, only the result matters. The Royalty has commanded us to bring you back to the Colony."  
  
"Sounds good to me. Asura and I have had a very long night."  
  
"Waspinator will carry cat-bot!"  
  
************************  
  
On the Darkseid's bridge, Megatron debriefed his followers. He had initially been angry with Asura and Scorponok for getting captured, but his mood soon improved when they told him about all the damage they had done to the Maximals.  
  
"So, Asura, that explosion BlackArachnia detected was your handiwork?"  
  
"My handiwork, yes, but Scorponok's idea." She flashed a smile toward her companion.  
  
"It would be so nice if at least one of you learned to speak consistently in complete and coherent sentences, yesss.", Megatron said sighing. "Nonetheless, you have both done a very good night's work, yesss. Silverbolt, the cheetah, and that new crow are all off-line, thanks to your efforts. Inferno downed the falcon. Most importantly, the Maximals have been deprived of a weapons hold and everything in it. They are not wholly unarmed, nooo, but they are weakened, perhaps severely. We therefore have an opportunity to strike! Go recharge yourselves, now. You will be needed shortly."  
  
"Yes, Megatron."  
  
The two Predacons saluted Megatron respectfully, and left the bridge.  
  
"I think we made a good team.", said Scorponok. "We should work together again, don't you think?"  
  
Asura grinned. "Sure, so long as we're doing something else besides busting out of a Maximal brig." 


End file.
